set in the Court of Lions (Buda Castle), freezing in the cold on 2nd February, from 10 am to 4 pm.
Promising that we would not sneak in the picture, take photos or faint at the sight of anyone, we
were allowed inside the cordon.
The situation was not easy: the place was cold and droughty, so we almost froze to death, even
though sometimes we were let inside the cabinets used by the staff to get warm.
So we just stood there, waiting for the big, black car, which eventually arrived, with no one but the
driver. He put a small bottle of mineral water in the cup holder at the back seat, and nothing else
happened. Then the door of a large caravan opened somewhere behind us, and Rob stepped out with
his assistant, so that they could shoot a scene already rehearsed without him.
Originally this was the moment, where we should have fainted.
At this point of the plot, Rob’s character is completely bold and wears a thick moustache and beard.
I think these were dyed even darker than his own hair.
This was the first time I met him ”personally”, and I just melted at the sight. I, being 1.78 m tall,
never thought him so much taller with his 1.85 m, yet, I must admit that I felt him towering over
me. *sigh
And he is thin as a blade, which was clearly visible, although he was wearing a massive military
coat.
And he has a voice, which is… just music to my ears. Unfortunately we could not hear him during
the shooting, I guess he must act a bit, as his own voice does not quite fit his hardy character. We
shall see.
There were about 200 extras freezing with us as well.
I could not recall, where would the scene we saw fit into the original piece by Sartre, so I think an
entirely different story will be built for us.
Besides that it was an unforgettable experience seeing Rob just a few steps away from me, it
was even better to hear the opinion of the crew around on him. We asked one of them, to tell us
honestly, what kind of a person he is – not the performance delivered by him, but simply Rob as
this one guy, in private and as an actor at work.
According to the reply he is a kind lad, polite, kind, impossibly patient, doing everything he is
asked without the slightest complaint. He would not drive anyone mad with his allures. He is just
sitting silently, does his job when told so, and goes off reading when there is time for rest.
We just overheard an opinion, when a guy from the technical department walked over and asked the
others, who had not yet seen Rob: „Hey, have you seen Pattinson?” „Not yet.” „Man, what they did
to him… but as disgusting his character is, this appearance should just fit.”
At another chance to get warmer, we just walked into the shelter provided for the VIP, where Brady
Corbet was watching the scene being shot outside. (Actually he is indeed a small guy, very adorable
and a bit nervous. Maybe he was upset by the commotion in the neighborhood caused by the visit of
the German chancellor.) We were standing almost just behind him, watching the screens as Rob sits
in the car, Rob gets out of the car, Rob gets into the car, and finally Corbet said ”Cut!”… and then
Rob walked in to have a look of the shot. He watched it without a single frown, and just held up his
thumb.
We were almost at the melting point.
He left and they shot another scene.
By the way, I guess that the shooting of a film is such an unbelievable event: not really interesting,
but mostly tiring and slightly boring, unless there is someone to keep your attention. :)
We did not wait until the end of the day for Rob to leave the location. We saw the essence of it, we
were given more, than we hoped for, so I could not tell if Rob dressed up normally after he left or
not. I could also not tell how he looks like in plain clothes.
Still, the lines we heard and the answers we were given brought us some sort of a silent
complacence: Rob looks just the way as I imagined him. He has wonderful eyes *sigh, his voice
could be a cure for any illness, and he did not show any sight of being self-conceited as a movie
star.
We behaved like good kids, we did not push too far and did not even try to take backstage photos.
We did not disturb him as he concentrated on his role by popping up and asking for autographs. So
we are left only with this little story, told by heart.
